User`s guide

INSPEED MODEL 370 EMBEDDED STORAGE SWITCH
USER’S GUIDE CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
EMULEX CORPORATION 3
P
ART NUMBER 00041367-003 REV. B
• Full-rack, 1U size for easy installation (optional 19" rack-mounting kits available).
• Redundant fans and two hot-swappable, auto-sensing, load sharing, universal power supplies
for high availability.
• Fibre Channel ANSI Standards Compliance
INSPEED™ TECHNOLOGY
InSpeed™ technology is an advanced switching architecture that couples a non-blocking crossbar
switch with a unique switch port logic and per-port SERDES. This results in the industry’s highest
density Fibre Channel switch on a chip (SOC). The port logic is based on Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop
(FC-AL), an ANSI standard (X3T11) designed to provide shared bandwidth over low-cost media.
This architecture enables the switch’s router to send data directly from one port to another, allowing for
multiple, simultaneous conversations between ports — effectively multiplying bandwidth. InSpeed™
provides the same performance as complex fabric switches that support FC-SW2.
SWITCH APPLICATIONS
The InSpeed Model 370 Embedded Storage Switch is ideal for embedded applications in storage or tape
library systems, where improvements to the reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) and
performance of systems is critical. The following sections provide examples of these applications.
Embedded Root Switch in Disk Storage Systems
In this configuration, the switch connects controllers to the disk shelves. See Figure 1-1 and Figure 1-2
for two examples of this type of application.
Benefits include:
• Improved performance and RAS (Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability) over shared loop
architectures.
• Improved isolation and diagnostics down to a shelf level.
• Up to a 250% performance improvement over shared loop-based architectures.
• Requires no design changes to the disk shelves or the storage controllers.
Figure 1-1: Embedded Root Switches in a Disk Storage System